Replacing HP564 Printer Carts With Non-OEM Carts

Introduction: Replacing HP564 Printer Carts With Non-OEM Carts

I don't print much. But recently my printer started telling me that the ink was running low. I ignored it as long as I could but eventually it just ran out. I've been buying refilled printer carts on eBay for years; it's much more economical than buying branded cartridges. When I went online to buy replacements on eBay I noticed that some were listed as "with chip" and some were "chipless." The "chipless" ones were cheaper. So I had to figure what the difference was. It turns out, many modern printer carts have little computer ships in them to communicate with the printer about ink levels and such. So I took out one of the old carts to investigate. Sure enough, it had a chip on it. But it looked easy enough to get off. So I decided to buy the cheaper chipless cart set and swap the old chip onto the new carts.

This Instructable will show you how to use cheaper non-OEM printer carts to replace original manufacturer's carts that have chips. Specifically, I have HP 564 carts.

Step 1: Materials and Supplies

You will only need two tools for this: a razor knife and two-sided tape.

Step 2: Buy Replacement Carts

First, hop online and find some refilled carts that you want to buy. eBay is a great place for this. My printer has 4 cartridges in it: Black, Yellow, Red, Blue. In the store each one is about 10 bucks. On eBay you can get a full set of carts for less than the price of just one color of the branded stuff in the store.

A lot of these refilled cartridges come from China. So they may have inserts in very poor English explaining how to replace the chip. Just toss the insert. After reading this Instructable you'll already know how to do it.

Step 3: Remove Old Chips

Take the spent cartridges out of the printer. You'll notice that each one has a tiny chip on it. Use a razor blade to carefully remove the chip. To do this, CAREFULLY insert the point of the blade underneath the chip and wiggle it to gradually loosen the adhesive. Don't apply too much pressure. If you bend or break the chip it is useless. Eventually the chip will pop off. Some of the adhesive may still be stuck to the back of the chip. That's OK.

A few notes: you need to make sure the correct chip goes on the correct cartridge. For example, the chip that was on the old blue cartridge must go on the new blue cartridge and so forth. To avoid mixing them up I recommend finishing each cartridge before moving on to the next one.

Step 4: Insert Old Chip Into New Cart

On the new cartridge locate the area that the chip should go. It is the corresponding area on the old cartridge. Place a small piece of two-sided tape to this area. Apply the chip to the new cart and press gently with you fingers. The chip needs to be correctly oriented so make note of it before removing the old one.

Step 5: Install Carts & Test Print

There are plastic transport covers and labels that need to be removed before installing the cartridges. Then install the new cartridges and print a test page. The printer will say that it is low on ink. But you know better. Since you are using the old chip, the printer doesn't know that it is a new cart. Examine the test page to make sure everything looks OK. If needed, perform a cartridge alignment.

Now you've saved some money and can continue printing dumb stuff from the internet.

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2 Discussions

Good Show, you must have a steady hand if you are using a razor blade.You can buy a chip re-setter of "E"bay for about $4 and it will work on refills as well then the printer won't Nag you all the time.